When the Log rolls over...

[beach_plums]

Ok, here's a quick update before heading into my day-long meeting...yes, I have snacks, and I will eat them!
No workout Monday or Tuesday. Tuesday, I did get a lot of exercise in though! We went to The Police and Elvis Costello at Red Rocks. It was a sold out show, which ment that we had to park at the entrance of the park and walk up the hill (about a mile) then climb the stairs (I didn't count, but there's a lot!), then climb up more stairs to get to our seats (in the very back/top). Later, we did it all in reverse.
What surprised me is that, after walking up a fairly steep mile, I climbed those stairs without any problem. In the past, without the walk, I would have made it about half way up before getting winded. This time, nothing.

Anyway, meeting time. Got to run. More later.

[foodfromafar]

Woohoo for you, Christina! That's how I felt on my recent sod laying day. I was tired at the end of the day but not wiped out at all - like the Energier bunny - going and going and going...when before I would've had to sit down and rest, etc.

[beach_plums]

It felt really good. I'm suffering for it now though--in the form of shin splints. I suppose that much walking is better done in a shoe that's not a cute little strappy sandal. I also managed to cut my foot somewhere along the way. Not too bad.

In other news. I am hoping to get to the gym either today after work or tomorrow. The craziness has begun...BFs brother is getting married on Saturday and the family is starting to show up. Yesterday it was parents, sister (she's staying at my house), and a couple of friends. Tonight is another brother and more friends. Friday is the rehearsal dinner/party night. There's bound to be an hour or so in there that I can slip away...I hope. If not, I'll have to do the Saturday morning workout, and I really don't like that. I'm not a morning person at all!
As far as food goes, I did really well yesterday until dinner. We didn't managed to eat until 9pm, and by then I had lost all control. We finally decided to go for something quick and easy, which means pizza. I ate probably two slices too many. And, of course, I'm itchy this morning. But, today I plan on getting back on track. I've packed my snacks. We've got catered lunch today again--more all day meetings to look forward to. But, that shouldn't be too bad. We get to order what we want. And the menus/nutritional information is available. I can make a good choice.

Walked a mile today with the puppy-no running though. My shins hurt too much for that.

[beesknees]

Christina, I read what you wrote in Celeste's log - good luck with your tough week/weekend. I am leaving Saturday for a lake cabin and then we are off to a wedding next Friday. I like what you said though about remembering your goals. I am going to keep reminding myself as well. Good luck - and have fun!

[Bytsi]

Sorry the pizza attacked you... I had a bad night with food attacking me too

[beach_plums]

Originally Posted by Bytsi

Sorry the pizza attacked you... I had a bad night with food attacking me too

At least we're not alone in this, right.
I was totally prepared to have a nice, healthy dinner at 6:30 when we started talking about where to go/what to do. But, that was totally thrown out the window 2 hours later when we finally left. Oh well...We'll see what tonight brings.

[beach_plums]

Dinner was not as bad last night--We managed to leave the house at 7:15 this time. Yes, to eat out again. This time, I went with the buffalo meatloaf--no gravy--and a salad. Not too bad. I skipped the mashed potatoes that came with the meatloaf, as well as the something-soaked veggies. I think it was butter, so I stayed clear. I let BF eat those. I did have a much needed gin and tonic too. All in all, not too bad.

I'm leaving work early today to go to the gym before the next enormous dinner and pre-wedding party. Luckily, I don't get to drink tonight because I'm on airport duty (somewhat self-imposed). BFs sick (likely a sinus infection, yuck!), his parents will have the grandson, brother will be at the party, no one else has a car, so that leaves me. It might be kind of nice to get away for a bit--it's a good 45 minute drive to the airport. And I think I have to do it twice...

I'm hoping that my second stage 7 workout goes better than the first. I'm much more prepared today. I slept last night, ate enough protein, and have enough protein with me today for meals and snacks. No carb overload! I am a little dissapointed though, that I didn't make it to the gym earlier in the week. Too much going on though. Oh well. I'll get there today, Sunday, and three times next week too.

[foodfromafar]

I feel the same way, Christina, about not making it to the gym this week. I only made it to the gym once so far this week. I hope to be able to make it today but I have to take the car to the shop this morning, a wedding to attend this afternoon and I'm watching the grandson all day. We'll see what happens. It sounds like you'll have a great time with family. Great job on making good choices.

[Celestialmom]

Christina, just catching up on your week (I took enough time to update mine but was too exhausted to do anything but fall into bed this week). Sounds like you lost some minor skirmishes but won the major battles food-wise, and you had a great time with family! So great job!

[beach_plums]

So, here's the weekend update, starting with Friday after work...
I left work early so that I could make it to the gym before having to go to the pre-wedding events. I only had about an hour, so I missed the last set of workout 2 in stage 7--making it three instead of four. I won't bother with the full details (because I don't have my cheat-sheet with me today and I can't really remember it all). But, lessons learned: 1) and hour isn't enough time for a stage 7 workout. 2) supersets are freaking hard, no matter how well you've eaten and how well rested you are. 3) trying to do these when the gym is busy is difficult because of all the different equipment you have to use in a short period of time. In one of my sets, I had to skip the lat pull downs because I just couldn't get to the machine. I had to add on an additional set at the end of the whole thing. 4) Be happy when you have more than 30 seconds rest between exercises, because 30 seconds is short! 5) Be prepared to sweat--a lot! 6) A shake and a salad is not enough food after a workout like this.

That was the only workout I managed, except, of course, setting up tables, carrying coolers and bags of ice, and carrying oodles of chairs to and from the car on Saturday for the wedding (up and down a small hill at a beautiful park by the river). Walking/running the dog. And, finally, setting up for the kid's birthday party--carrying a table down a flight of stairs, loading that table into the back of a car, removing table from car, carrying table to backyard of BFs house, more chair carrying/setup, and, my favorite part, making batch after batch of mojitos (and only drinking 1).

Food for the weekend, dare I admit to it all....
Friday was good. I ate all my normal day-time foods. After working out, I had my shake and grilled chicken salad. At the bowling alley, I ate half of a chicken strip, at the bar afterwards, I had one slice of a fried avocado because I was curious, and a bite of a buffalo burger, no bun. Oh, and a beer. And just in case you're curious, fried avocado is all wrong. It's cruchy on the outside, squishy on the inside, and hot. It pretty much ruined a perfectly good avocado.

Saturday started good...egg and turkey sausage sandwich, pho soup (eating less than half the noodles), cherries. But, the wedding saw my lack of control. My choices were good, the quantity was not: small amount Pulled pork, small amount bbq beef, 1/2 lamb kabob, 1 pork spare rib, tomato and cucumber salad, something called a soy bun, 1 inch square vegan-no wheat carrot cake-ish, 1 inch square vegan no-wheat brownie-ish, watermelon, and, finally, a cookie. Dang, that's a lot. I can't believe I listed it all! At the after-party, I helped with a bottle of wine. So, really, there was a lot of protein going on here. For the most part, it was all lean cuts of meat (except the spare rib and I didn't actually finish that). But, it was a constant grazing over a period of 6 hours. The wedding was fun. The ceremony was short and non-traditional. The vegan table had some good-looking desserts and a bunch of processed tofu items, which I steered clear of. I figure I'd rather eat meat than a tofurkey hot-dog looking thing.

Sunday: I can't remember breakfast...hm. Did I eat it? I don't know. It was a busier morning than Saturday! lunch: 1 hamburger, 1 hotdog, coleslaw, a mojito-I could have done without the hotdog, but it looked so good! 1 small piece of b-day cake, icing scraped onto my sister's plate (just didn't like it, otherwise I would have eaten it). Dinner: Bowl of green chili, 1 flautita w/a smear of guacamole, 2 margaritas--yes, I over did it with the drinking. But, in my defense, I put up with a lot all weekend while being the designated driver for 4 extremely drunk people. And on Sunday, I was so not the driver! Plus, I was kind of drowning some anger. I woke up Sunday morning unable to breathe with my eyes puffed shut--6 hours in a park is not good for a girl with serious allergies to grass. Once I was able to pry my eyes open, I went to the pet store to pick up more dog food. I was in there for a total of 15 minutes--apparently just enough time for someone to hit my car and get the heck out of the parking lot. There's a huge dent in the back of my car now. I'm still pretty pissed about that! Followed by the battery in the smoke detector going bad. I came home to a bunch of beeping. When I pulled out the step ladder to pull the battery out, I was greeted by, "Do you have to do that now. We're running late" from BF. My response was a glare (undeserving, but we had 3 hours before anyone was showing up at his house for the party). And, yes, I got that battery out! Then, we had to switch cars, so BF got old-dent-y with air conditioning while his sister and I got the hot-box to move tables and chairs in. It was like a freaking sauna in there. What it comes down to is the only two things I could really control that day were 1) the smoke detector and 2) how overboard I decided to go with the drinks. And, when it comes down to it, three drinks really isn't bad, just more than I usually have.

Wow. Ok, that's quite a lot of babbling, so I'm going to get to actual work now...

[Bytsi]

Ugh!!!!

From my perspective, I think you salvaged a sucky weekend with lots of opportunity to do a LOT more damage than you did!!!!

Welcome home!

[beach_plums]

Thanks Bytsi! I could have done a lot more damage, you're right. I really had it in me this weekend! I was constantly surrounded by delicious food and drink the whole time.

You made me realize I'm doing that whole focusing on the negative thing that I'm so fond of (new goal opportunity?)...the weekend was actually really good, it just had a handful of really crappy moments (allergy attack, car dent, late-night driving w/drunk passengers, lack of quantity food control, no airconditioning in the car used for moving furniture).
Good things for weekend: It was great seeing people that we normally see once a year if we're lucky. The wedding and birthday party were a ton of fun. Everyone really enjoyed themselves. The weather was great! We couldn't have asked for 2 better days. We were never bored. There was little to no sitting in front of the TV for hours on end. Did I mention how great it was seeing everyone? We had people in town from Ireland, Californina, and Boston--just to name a few.

Ok, this time I mean it... I'm going to do actual work!

[Celestialmom]

Christina,
It sounds like you made very good choices and ate in moderation--it's not every weekend that you have a wedding and birthday party, not to mention company for days. And good for you for getting in a workout on Friday, even though it was hard.

Sorry about the car and the allergy/asthma attack . Have you ever looked into getting allergy shots? I've been getting them for several years and have gone from being semi-dependent on a nebulizer, inhaler, and lots of meds (and still sneezing and wheezing anyway), to not taking any meds at all except for my albuterol before I exercise. Maybe you've looked into it or it's not for you, but it's definitely worth considering...
my .02...

Hope you're recovering well and had a great Monday!
Celeste

[beach_plums]

Thanks Celeste. I don't think I'd use the word moderation to describe my eating. But, everything was pretty high in protein, right-on in carbs, and pretty close on fat. Calories were off the radar. But, Monday started another week, and I'm back on it. Last night we went for pasta (family is still in town). I ate a salad while watching everyone else pig out on pasta and bread. That said, I was pretty darn satisfied with my salad. It was a walnut pear salad with balsamic vinegar and chicken.
All in all, yesterday was ok on macros-a little lower in protein than I would have liked, but I'm happy with it.

I've thought about getting allergy shots. My thing is, when I started eating cleaner, I had considerably less issues with it. Up until late Saturday night/Sunday morning, I haven't had any problems with the asthma. So, I let the idea of shots slip my mind. I should probably let it creep back in so that I can spend a day at the park without feeling like crap the next day.

I had planned on getting to the gym today after work. It's looking like I'll have to push that off another day though. Tonight, you guessed it, we're going out to dinner and I won't have time to get to the gym. It's looking like another salad night for me. Today is BF's son's actual birthday, so we're all getting together for dinner. By all, I mean BF, his family, his son, and myself + his ex-wife, her boyfriend, her daughter, her parents, and possibly her BFs daughter. It should be interesting; I'm guessing it'll go as smoothly as it can. I'm hoping to find out where we're going before the end of the day so that I can check out the menu and decide what to get before getting there.

I've got another day of meetings today.

Good things for yesterday (and one for today already). I really do need to get back in the habit of recording these daily!
1. We're doing design for the system we're building, and it's my job to mock up the screens. Apparently everyone underestimated my ability, and I ended up blowing their socks off. The good part isn't the underestimating...it's the fact that they're realizing and appreciating my abilities. I've only been here for two months, and this is the first time that we've gone through this exercise, so they weren't sure what to expect.
2. I got a pretty good night sleep last night. It was nice and cool--perfect for sleeping.
3. I actually ran this morning. I've been doing a half-ass jog lately because I've been so tired. But, because I slept so well, we went full-force. It felt really good.

[Celestialmom]

Boy you've got a lot going on...great job wowing your coworkers! And good luck staying strong on the food front, esp since that mix of family sounds like a recipe for tension... Nothing like socializing with your bf's ex to make a great evening!

As far as the shots go, they are a pain when you have to go every week, but now I'm to every other week finally and it's more bearable. Anyway it's a thought.

[Bytsi]

Whooot!!! about the work stuff - way to go!!!!